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Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.
H. L. Mencken. Except in cyberattack land [yet.]
We open as usual with the Asian markets and news, but the big story this morning is a hacking for ransom attack on the world’s largest meat producer.
More on that below. Hopefully, this new attack and the recent US petrol pipeline attack, will finally force the international community to take concerted action. Corporations and others to take cyber crime as a serious threat.
Below, Asian markets and oil trade nervously higher. Enough for now, I have to rush out to my 24 hour supermarket to stock up on beefburgers and pork chops!
Asian shares tick up U.S. data bolsters reopening hopes
The U.S. needs to put more pressure on the perpetrators of the recent cyberattacks that have befallen the country, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., told CNBC on Tuesday.
“This is getting more and more serious,” said Langevin, who serves on the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. “President Biden and Congress need to make it clear to other countries, particularly Russia, that there’s a price to pay if they’re going to look the other way and allow criminal organizations like what happened with Colonial [Pipeline] or the JBS ransomware attack to just act with impunity.”
The CSC is a bipartisan body tasked with developing a strategic approach to defending cyberattacks against the U.S.
The White House said earlier in the day that a criminal organization — likely based in Russia — is responsible for a ransomware attack against JBS, the world’s largest meat processor.
JBS reported the organized cyberattack on its information systems just three weeks after a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline — the largest fuel pipeline in the United States — crippled fuel delivery for several days in the Southeastern part of the U.S.
The cyberattack forced the company to grind operations to a halt at slaughterhouses and processing plants across the U.S., and at least six plants told workers not to come in on Tuesday.
The lost shifts and other slowdowns translated into declines in beef and pork production for the whole country. Daily livestock slaughter figures from the Department of Agriculture showed a 22% decline in cattle and a 19.6% dropped in hogs processed compared to a week ago.
More
Finally, in more normal news, despite Brexit, the BBC, the Guardian, the dire and wrong predictions of the remainiacs, and the Sars pandemic, Europe seems to be getting over its Brexit sulk and wants access to GB’s markets, defence and much more.
Despite Brexit, Heinz is investing in England.
France, Italy and Germany vie for post-Brexit deals with UK
Talks on defence are first signs UK is willing to forge positive bilateral relations with its European partners.
Mon 31 May 2021 12.26 BST
France, Italy and Germany, the three leading European powers, are each trying to reach bilateral post-Brexit agreements with the UK, after Britain said it was not interested in closer security and foreign policy cooperation with the EU.
The behind-the-scenes discussion at ambassadorial and ministerial levels runs in contrast to some of the negative rhetoric from Downing Street about its approach to its EU partners. The discussions have focused on defence cooperation but go far wider, and would be the first signs that the UK was capable of forging positive bilateral relations with its European partners.
Boris Johnson’s willingness last week to host the Hungarian prime minister as the first mainland European leader in Downing Street was regarded as a setback to a gradual normalisation of British-European relations. Viktor Orbán is seen as a disruptor of the EU. The UK rejected a foreign and security component when it negotiated Brexit with the EU in December, leading European countries to improve bilateral relations.
But Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, on his recent visit to the UK for the G7 foreign ministers’ summit, also agreed plans to revive before the summer the annual meeting between French and UK defence and foreign ministers. The last such meeting was in Brittany two years ago, but no meet-up occurred last year as a result of Covid and Brexit.
“On many issues, we have congruent views, shared analysis or common interests. We are neighbours. We cannot sit there immobile staring at one another,” Le Drian said.
Despite the recent row between French and Channel Islands fishers, the French have not ruled out a summit between Johnson and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, this year.
France and the UK are the major European military powers and, since the Lancaster House agreement was signed 10 years ago, the two countries have maintained close defence ties.
The Italian embassy in the UK also hopes Rome will reach an understanding or mini-treaty with the UK this year.
The Italian deputy defence minister, Giorgio Mulè, claimed the UK’s recent integrated foreign and security review showed “a willingness to keep the British commitment to security in Europe high”.
To relaunch cooperation, he said it was necessary “to anchor an industrial policy capable of coping with the aggressive and often ruthless international and, in particular, Chinese competition with competence, know-how, ability and technological innovation”.
More
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/31/france-italy-germany-brexit-deals-uk
Heinz sauce making a comeback to the UK with £140m investment
Tuesday 1 June 2021 7:57 am
Kraft Heinz, the food giant behind Heinz and Philadelphia, has tabled plans for a £140m investment in Wigan’s Kitt Green, Europe’s largest food manufacturing facility today.
In one of the largest post-Brexit investments in the UK, it would be the heftiest investment in an existing manufacturing site outside of the US by the firm in over two decades.
The investment would aim to bring Heinz sauce making back to the UK to bolster its European capacity.
“Not only are we excited to be expanding our product mix by bringing sauces back to the UK but also look forward to a more efficient facility with a sustainable future,” Kitt Green site director, Luis Spinardi, said.
Read more: Domino’s to hire 5,000 new workers as staff return to old roles
The proposal, while subject to final US approval from the food giant later in the year, could create up to 50 new full-time positions.
The food giant, the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, will focus on modernising the site over the next four years.
The modernisation of the site is set to shrink its non-renewable resource use, produce fully recyclable items and help cut its CO2 emissions.
Currently producing 1.3bn cans of food per year, of which 94 per cent is consumed in the UK, the Kitt Green sit will continue to make its Heinz Beanz, Soups and Pasta products.
“We are now in the fortunate position where Kitt Green can become a much more modern facility and our teams will have the ability to adopt more contemporary ways of working whilst exemplifying the highest global standards for food manufacturing,” Spinardi added.
UK economy set to grow 7.2 per cent this year, OECD forecasts
Monday 31 May 2021 1:28 pm
The UK’s economy is set to grow at its fastest rate since the second world war this year and in 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has forecast.
After the Covid-19 ravaged economies, the UK suffered a 9.8 per cent contraction in 2020 – its worst in nearly 300 years.
The organisation anticipates a GDP growth of 7.2 per cent this year and 5.5 per cent in 2022.
Read more: Business and professional services boosts UK economic output in May
The OECD has warned that global recovery is now at a “critical stage” and unequal vaccine distribution could swell global economic disparities.
The collision of Brexit and the pandemic may also hinder the UK more than other G7 nations – while the UK’s losses will likely far surpass that of Japan, Canada and the US, according to OECD.
More
Global Inflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
With food price inflation on the rise, US and Canadian grain producers need bumper crops this year to offset droughts affecting Brazil and Argentine grain production.
But much of the US high plains and west are already experiencing severe drought. This update from Accuweather is not good news.
There is still time for timely summer rains to help bring in bumper crops but early high summer heat isn’t a help.
Sweltering heat to challenge record highs across northern Plains, Canadian Prairies
May 31, 2021 / 10:34 AM By Renee Duff, Accuweather.com
As the intense heat over the West expands eastward by late week, AccuWeather meteorologists expect many cities in the north-central United States and southern Canada to be hotter than parts of the South.
Daytime temperatures will surge up to 25 degrees Fahrenheit higher than early June averages from Montana to Michigan and northward through the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba during the middle and latter part of the week.
A northward bulge in the jet stream will allow the hot air to flow in just days after Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer.
Mother Nature will first begin to crank up the heat on Wednesday in places such as Great Falls and Missoula, Mont., as well as Calgary, Alberta, with temperatures climbing to near-record territory into the upper 80s to lower 90s. Average high temperatures range from the middle 60s to lower 70s from north to south in this corridor.
From Thursday through Saturday, the toasty temperatures will expand eastward across southern Canada, the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest.
This heat wave is likely to bring the first 90-degree (32 C) temperatures of the year for places such as Bismarck, Grand Forks and Fargo, N.D., later this week. The mean first 90-degree or higher day is June 8 in Bismarck and Fargo and June 11 in Grand Forks, according to National Weather Service climate records.
International Falls, Minnesota Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, Manitoba, are other areas where thermometers will be soaring into the 90s F and challenging record highs late this week.
---- The intense heat will result in a worsening drought across the region, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Jake Sojda.
Drought conditions ranging from severe to exceptional have been plaguing eastern Montana and into the Dakotas, with severe to extreme drought conditions being reported in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Above-average warmth may stick around into next week across the northern tier of the U.S. and southern tier of Canada, though there could be more opportunities for some beneficial rainfall.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/05/31/weather-heat/3211622471183/
Annual house price growth hits highest level for seven years in May
Tuesday 1 June 2021 7:56 am
Annual house price growth rose to 10.9 per cent in May, the highest level in nearly seven years.
Prices shot up 1.8 per cent month-on-month, following a 2.3 per cent rise in April, according to new Nationwide data.
The new record average house price is £243k, up by almost £24k over the past twelve months.
A year ago, activity collapsed in the wake of the first lockdown with housing transactions falling to a record low of 42k in April 2020.
However, activity surged towards the end of last year and into 2021, reaching a record high of 183k in March.
The market has seen a “complete turnaround” over the past year, according to Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist.
Gardner said that while the spike in transactions has been driven by the extension to the stamp duty holiday, it is not the key factor in the momentum.
“Amongst homeowners surveyed at the end of April that were either moving home or considering a move, more than two thirds said this would have been the case even if the stamp duty holiday had not been extended.
“It is shifting housing preferences which is continuing to drive activity, with people reassessing their needs in the wake of the pandemic.”
Read more: Domino’s to hire 5,000 new workers as staff return to old roles
Japan may see inflation perk up in post-COVID era, says BOJ board member
June 2, 20213:27 AM BST
A post-coronavirus pandemic world could offer an opportunity for Japanese firms to raise prices and help the central bank achieve its 2% inflation target, Bank of Japan board member Seiji Adachi said on Wednesday.
While restaurants and hotels may need to continue shouldering the cost of steps to prevent the spread of the virus, consumers may become more willing to pay more for value-added services, Adachi said in a speech.
"This could offer firms a chance to charge more for higher quality services," said Adachi, a former market economist.
"A post-pandemic world may offer a big chance to achieve our 2% inflation target," if retailers are able to charge more for their services unlike in Japan's past periods of deflation, he added.
The BOJ currently caps long-term interest rates around zero, and buys huge amounts of government bonds and assets to achieve its elusive 2% inflation target.
It also put in place last year a series of steps to channel money via financial institutions to firms hit by the pandemic.
Adachi said the BOJ needs to maintain its ultra-loose policy to help the economy remove slack and create an environment where society becomes more tolerant of price hikes.
More
Ireland Plans $4.3 Billion Plan to Revive Covid-Racked Economy
By Peter FlanaganJune 1, 2021, 7:11 AM EDT
Ireland’s government unveiled a 3.5 billion euro ($4.3 billion) stimulus plan to revive its economy as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.
The government will start to wind down special pandemic welfare payments for workers hit by the pandemic from September while adding additional job placements and maintaining some business supports. A temporary sales tax cut for the hospitality sector will be extended to September 2022. The government is aiming to have about 2.5 million people in work by 2024, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
“Our core objective is to restore, and then go beyond pre-pandemic employment levels to not just rebuild, but to build back better,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told reporters in Dublin. “There is enormous damage to be undone.”
Among other plans, the government will look at facilitating long term working from home and seek to go beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure the country’s progress.
While GDP is an essential measure for understanding the economic resources available to a society,” it is “not the only thing which matters,” Martin said.
The measures come as Ireland tries to recover from the pandemic which has seen repeated lock-downs of the economy. The country was essentially closed down for the first four months of this year. Modified gross national income, which is seen as a better measure of the economy than GDP, shrank 4.2% last year, according to the finance ministry, and is forecast to grow 2.5% in 2021.
Including all workers receiving pandemic welfare payments, unemployment stood at 22.4% in April. The unemployment rate was 4.8% in February 2020, the last month before the pandemic hit Ireland.
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
H. L. Mencken.
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
UK reports no new COVID-19 deaths for first time since March 2020
by Reuters Tuesday, 1 June 2021 17:13 GMT
LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - Britain recorded no new deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test on Tuesday.
The last time Britain recorded no deaths was in March 2020, before the country had entered its first lockdown. The figure on Tuesday relates to how many deaths have been reported and it comes after a national holiday on Monday - a factor which has in the past skewed the data.
"The whole country will be so glad there were no COVID-related deaths recorded yesterday," health minister Matt Hancock said in a statement, adding that the vaccines were clearly working.
"But despite this undoubtedly good news we know we haven't beaten this virus yet, and with cases continuing to rise please remember hands, face, space and let in fresh air when indoors, and of course, make sure when you can you get both jabs."
Britain's overall death toll from the pandemic stands at 127,782 and is the fifth highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The British government data showed 3,165 new cases of the virus, broadly flat on the previous day.
https://news.trust.org/item/20210601143331-tpr2n
U.S. begins study testing mix-and-match Covid vaccine booster shots
The National Institutes of Health announced Tuesday it has started an early stage clinical trial looking at what happens when an adult who is fully vaccinated with one type of Covid-19 vaccine, like Pfizer’s, is boosted with a different shot about three to four months later.
The trial will include about 150 adults who have received one of the three Covid vaccine regimens currently available under the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization: Johnson & Johnson’s, Moderna’s or Pfizer’s.
Federal health officials said people who have not yet received an authorized vaccine are also eligible to enroll in the trial in a separate group. Those volunteers will receive two doses of Moderna’s vaccine and will be assigned to receive a booster dose of one of the three vaccines about 12 to 20 weeks later, officials said.
“Although the vaccines currently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration offer strong protection against COVID-19, we need to prepare for the possibility of needing booster shots to counter waning immunity and to keep pace with an evolving virus,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the NIH.
“The results of this trial are intended to inform public health policy decisions on the potential use of mixed vaccine schedules should booster doses be indicated,” he added.
More
The Latest: Chinese city locks down 2 areas as cluster grows
BEIJING — China’s southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou has imposed lockdowns on two neighborhoods after an additional 11 cases of COVID-19 were detected in the city.
The surrounding province of Guangdong has already required anyone wishing to travel to other parts of China produce a negative test for the virus taken within the previous 72 hours.
Guangzhou has 15 million people but it wasn’t immediately clear how many people were affected by the lockdowns announced on Tuesday.
More than 30 cases of local transmission have been detected in the city over recent days, making it the latest virus hotspot in a country that has mostly eliminated domestic infections through mask mandates, strict case tracing, widespread testing and strict lockdowns when cases are detected.
— Australian court upholds travel ban that’s kept most citizens in home country throughout the pandemic
— Businesses close in Malaysia’s second lockdown as surge puts health care system on verge of collapse
— Follow more of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford Website. https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)
https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.
BP invests $220 million in U.S. solar projects
June 1, 20216:36 PM BST
BP (BP.L) on Tuesday boosted its investment in U.S. renewables with a $220 million purchase of solar projects from developer 7X Energy.
The deal, for assets with production capacity of 9 gigawatts, marks BP's first independent investment in solar since buying a stake in Europe's largest solar developer, Lightsource, in 2017.
BP said the new assets will be developed and operated through its 50-50 joint venture with Lightsource BP.
BP CEO Bernard Looney last year launched a strategy to sharply reduce carbon emissions by 2050 by reducing oil output and growing its renewables business 20-fold between 2019 and 2030 to a capacity of 50 gigawatts (GW).
The deal will grow BP's renewables pipeline from 14GW to 23GW. The company expects to start developing around 2.2 GW of the acquisition's pipeline by 2025.
BP will integrate the new solar output into its large U.S. power trading business, which includes onshore wind and natural gas electricity. In future, it will also have offshore wind from a project it is developing off the East Coast with Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL), Dev Sanyal, BP head of gas and low carbon energy, told Reuters.
BP is confident it can reach returns on investment of 8% to 10% on its renewable investments, Sanyal added.
"This acquisition gives us a very significant development pipeline in one of the most important markets," Sanyal said.
The projects acquired are spread across 12 U.S. states, with the largest portfolios in Texas and the Midwest.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
H.
L. Mencken.
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